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Mid-Tech?

This is the question.Why is a knife called a mid tech.Is it having a company with years of experience and better equipment do the HT.I am still a newbie, so is the easy bake oven used by most knifemakers better then the salts used by the HT company?? Also is getting a consistent profile cut done buy a machine a bad thing??

Here is a response by Ken Onion from that thread, and it should shed some light on the subject. I think the term was coined by him.

Mid-Tech is a class of knives I created a few years ago to put a dividing line between custom and production .I wanted to discontinue my Boa knife a few years ago due to bordom but the demand was still so high I didn't dare . So I decided to get the parts cut out for me and I would do the grinding shaping and finnishing myself .Problem was , I didn't want everyone to assume I did all my knives this way. I needed to devise a way to differentiate between my custom and these knives I had subbed out part of .The answer was Mid-Tech ,by creating a new category of knives somewhere between custom and production and marketing as such these "Mid-Tech" knives would clearly establish a dividing line between custom and Mid-Tech or less than 100% authorship. Honesty is the key here . Since then there are those that have adopted the term Mid-Tech and defined it differently than I ,which I don't agree with . I installed a dividing line between custom and Mid-Tech but failed to mention that if a knife is all subbed out it is still a PRODUCTION KNIFE. There are alot of makers and posers that think that by assembling a knife they farmed out 90% ,sharpening it and logoing it it is Mid-Tech . It is not a Mid-Tech it is primarily factory made and there for is a Production knife . Now I don't know what % authorship a knife needs to have to be called a Mid-Tech , didn't think it necessary but things bieng as they are there are those that will split hairs and do as little as possable by hand and use the term Mid-Tech where the spirit of the term is lost . Again always ask how much was hand made by the guy or gal whose name appears on the knife . Honor and Honesty are key and as much as we don't like to hear it there are some sneaky ,treacherous ,predators out there who will deliberately mislead in order to turn a quick buck . Most are credible ,honest folk just trying to make a living . Don't let the 10% ruin the credibility of the 90%.

"All beauty that has no foundation in use, soon grows distasteful and needs continuous replacement with something new." The Shakers' saying.

It seems like every maker has a different definition of mid tech as well. For example Michael Rader did his batch of knives for CKTG all in house, but reserved the right to farm out certain process like handles etc. It still had his name and profile, but because in future it had the potential of not being 100% done by himself he did not mark them with the MS.

Bill Burke looks like he will be getting water jet and handles farmed out, but take control over IMO the most important steps, grinding and HT.

If you are planning on getting a mid tech I guess you just have to take stock in what steps are critical and important to you and make sure those are the steps the maker is doing.

I don't think the idea of doing a mid tech from a maker standpoint is monetarily motivated, but driven by the opportunity to get their knives into more hands and increasing exposure.

I don't know for sure, but I would be willing to bet Devin has increased his custom orders as a result of the sucess of his mid-techs.

It's my wish that all these guys have a great success from their mid-tech operations and I can't wait to get my hands on some.

It seems like every maker has a different definition of mid tech as well. For example Michael Rader did his batch of knives for CKTG all in house, but reserved the right to farm out certain process like handles etc. It still had his name and profile, but because in future it had the potential of not being 100% done by himself he did not mark them with the MS.

Bill Burke looks like he will be getting water jet and handles farmed out, but take control over IMO the most important steps, grinding and HT.

If you are planning on getting a mid tech I guess you just have to take stock in what steps are critical and important to you and make sure those are the steps the maker is doing.

I don't think the idea of doing a mid tech from a maker standpoint is monetarily motivated, but driven by the opportunity to get their knives into more hands and increasing exposure.

I don't know for sure, but I would be willing to bet Devin has increased his custom orders as a result of the sucess of his mid-techs.

It's my wish that all these guys have a great success from their mid-tech operations and I can't wait to get my hands on some.

Nice post Kalaeb. For me a mid-tech is ground by the maker. Even if the rest is farmed out, I would call it a mid-tech. That's just my opinion though.